Game Review: The Last Of Us Part II

Does “The Last Of Us Part II” live up to the hype machine’s expectations and the critical acclaim of its predecessor?

July 2020

Ross plays through the highly anticipated sequel to The Last Of Us, but it can it live up to his lofty expectations?

Well, this one had a bit of hype, didn’t it? I was on the train myself and preordered the game to make sure I had it on launch day which I don’t think I’ve ever actually done for a game before. I'm a huge fan of The Last Of Us, it’s one of my all-time favourites, and while I don’t normally do scores, the wonderful story, impressive visuals and tense survival horror gameplay make it an easy 10/10. Following the game’s ambiguous ending, fans have been looking forward to continuing the story and seeing how the main characters of Joel and Ellie will evolve. This, it seems, has led to some controversy.

Wildly varying opinions and reviews of this game can be found online with some declaring the game to be a masterpiece and others claiming that it’s one of the worst games of the year, a veritable dumpster fire burning and destroying the legacy of the original. I didn’t realise there was any controversy until after I had completed the game as I was deliberately staying away from all the features, reviews and potential spoilers so I could go in blind and make up my own mind. On top of the mixed reception, Naughty Dog themselves have been under criticism for the gruelling crunch periods and aggressive deadlines they place on their staff, the sort of behaviour and pressure found at the big companies such as EA, Ubisoft, or Konami. Hearing similar reports about a well-loved studio like Naughty Dog is disappointing, to say the least, but I haven’t let it alter any opinions I hold about the finished product. 

I won’t go into any specific story details as the whole game is pretty much a huge spoiler waiting to happen and I wouldn’t want to ruin the experience for anyone that hasn’t had the chance to check the game out yet. All I will say is that this is a proper followup to the events of the first game and you do need to have played through the first one to have any sort of emotional connection to the plot and if you didn’t enjoy the first one then Part II isn’t gonna change your mind.

The gameplay will be familiar to those returning to the series and requires the use of stealth when encountering enemies of the human and non-human variety - ammunition is scarce and enemy numbers will multiply quickly! There are a few new elements like the ability to go prone and crawl into hidden openings in buildings and hide from enemies in tall grass. In the first game, you could use bottles and bricks as distractions and you can still do that here but you can also use throw them directly at enemies for a quick kill, an ability which comes in handy in a scrap.

The human enemies are a little more ‘human’ this time around and they no longer feel like faceless grunts. They have full-on conversations while you’re trying to sneak around them, adding more depth to the world, and it’s a nice touch where, if you’ve killed someone, a nearby comrade can notice they’re missing and alert the rest of the group that something’s wrong. Normally if you kill an enemy in front of another member of the group you’ll hear them shout the victim’s name in response which adds to the realism and makes you feel a little bad about what you’re doing. However, that pales in comparison to the pangs of guilt you’ll get from having to kill enemy guard dogs. Hearing the dog’s yelps of pain and their handler’s subsequent cries of shock just hurt in a way that feels a little too real. The game also introduces brute style enemies at a few points, making you change up your strategies on the fly as these big buggers can soak up more than a few bullets, even to the head. 

Of course, the dreaded infected also make a return and they’re more horrific than ever. You have the standard “runner” variant that can be easy to handle one on one, but add a few more and they can be deadly unless you run for your life. The scary as hell “clickers” return as well and I almost got the fright of my life the first time one popped up again and I had to quickly remember to stay quiet or die in one hit. There are some new enemy variants as well to freshen up the gameplay from time to time such as the disgusting “shamblers” (that run right at you spraying deadly acid), and the creepy as hell “crawlers” (that prefer to creep around corners and stealthily attack from the shadows). 

It would be stupid not to mention just how beautiful this game is as it may just be the most gorgeous console game ever made, pushing the PS4 hardware to its absolute limit. Everything down to the smallest detail like the way footprints are made in the snow to snow falling off trees when you touch them looks absolutely stunning. There are so many moments where I wanted to stop playing and just appreciate some of the visuals: the snowy mountains of Jackson, the vast forest landscapes throughout and even the subway stations adorned with red flares - they all feel unique in their presentation and beauty. Even some of the gorier aspects are incredibly detailed… At one point I shot a man in the mouth and the gunshot wound looked horrifically genuine with fragments of teeth scattered around.

Early on in the game, while exploring a city with a map it genuinely feels like an open-world survival experience for the first time, which was a real highlight for me. You have to choose to risk whether you think it’s worth scavenging for more supplies since there’s the potential you’ll be walking into a deadly room - you just never know what’s waiting for you. Given that this was early on in the game I was looking forward to many more sections like this but disappointingly it never happened again and the rest of the game is pretty linear from this point forward. Similarly, some of the puzzle elements felt like a breath of fresh air whenever they popped up but unfortunately those moments were few and far between. 

And now we’ve reached the parts where I do have to show some further criticism. While a lot of the controversy has come from the story of the game, I found myself very invested and liked the ballsy directions the story was taking. That was until, after playing through about 12 hours of the game, it totally started to drag. Again no spoilers, but there is a point where the game leaves you on a bit of a cliffhanger and you need to play another 6 hours before you find out what happens… I just felt my motivation for the plot slowly sink as each hour passed by and I just didn’t care anymore. Given that this is a story-heavy series, that’s definitely not good. There’s just so much padding and too much reliance on flashback segments that the story becomes a confusing mess and after playing through 18 hours, praying I was finally done and that the story was wrapping up… it dared to continue for another 2 hours! I wouldn’t have minded if it led to a better ending but it was genuinely non-sensical and had me begging for the end credits to start rolling. 

As a result, I have incredibly mixed emotions for this game. I mean I had a blast for the first half but that second half just dragged the whole thing down and left the first half feeling far less replayable as well. I have no current desire to play through the game again and I don’t know if I’ll pick it up again as 20 hours is just too much of a commitment for something like so disappointing. Perhaps I had too much faith in Naughty Dog due to their consistently high standards entries and, for me, this is probably the worst game they’ve released since the Jak and Daxter days. At least the gameplay is consistently good even if the formula does start to wane after extended play. The problems with the way the story is told is a dealbreaker for a game like this as the gameplay can only carry it so far. Again, I don’t normally do scores but if the first game was a 10/10 then I’d have to give this around a 6/10. To say The Last Of Us Part II left me disappointed doesn’t do my feelings justice.

The Last Of Us Part II is out now.

Many thanks to Ross Donald for contributing this review. Ross has reviewed a number of games for The Head Scratcher (for more hit the button at the bottom of the page) and he regularly contributes to the excellent Glasgow-based rock and metal website and podcast Rock Will Eat Itself. Check them out at https://rockwilleatitself.blogspot.com.